Part I What I am about to write about happened in October of 1988,right after I had turned 16.Yes, I had a Computer.Yes, I was a hacker.Yes, this is my story.This story is all true. The events in the story are as realas the noses on your faces. Any attempt to change this storywould be boring, and unnescessary.Hello. My Handle is The Cuisinart Blade, (I have since changed it)most people called me C.B., just as another nickname. Igot into computers because I always had a knack for Games,Programs, Etc. I loved the feel of the keyboard as I typed,espically around Midnight, when School was only 7 hours away.That Dickhead in your 1st hour waiting to pick on you at thestroke of the clock.
What little that he knew.I Loved the feeling of flying through the 'Net, talking to theother Hackers like me, always trying to impress one another.They came in all fashions of Handles: The Ax Murderer, Psycho,The Hacker Kid, Phobia, Etc.the list is nearly endless. Andeach with an utterly unique personality, so far advanced fromthe Morons we all remember at high school. I loved talking tothese 'Wanderers of the Wunderland' so much, I would call allover the united states just to do that.I remember back in 1988, 9600 was almost as uncommon as thenewest modems of today. I loved to suck down that Jolt, turnon the overhead light in the basement, and hack until morning.Then goto school to have that enormus football jock try toscare me into submission. I will admit that, yes, he didscare me.
But what a fool he was, thinking that pure brawnwas power. Knowledge IS power.
This page presents the tripphrase, a variant on the tripcode which is more. 4chan and similar messageboards do not allow users to register accounts. A determined cracker will crack it regardless of bits, at which point,.
I never did good in HighSchool. Knowledge is not there, it was in the 'Net! THATwas where I was a King.
That was where I was a God. ANYONEwho has truely roamed the 'Net or been in that type of worldcould tell you that, (Right, King Blotto?) hands down.I loved running home, or taking the bus, right into mybasement! What a waste of time it was,compared to the thrill of Hacking? Homework was little morethan review. I sat down and got onto my Computer and began totype. I called a rather large BBS in which, Hackers frequented.Nowadays they are considered 'Wandering' Boards.
They appear towander because they change phone numbers all the time.Anyway, I called up my favorite Pirate BBS and went onto Multi-nodal chat to talk to the others about their exploits. Some ofthem had told me of their abilities to smash entire phonenetworks, others had told me of their A-Typical grade changes,(Yawn) But most of all I loved to brag. The unwritten rulein being a hacker, you're nothing unless you have something tobrag about.
At the time, I didn't, so I decided to get a namein the computer Hacking Club and do just that: Hack.At first I wondered where I should go, what I should do.I had no idea where to begin. I had been all over the worldin the 'Net, and nothing to show for it, other than just knowingof everyone, or everything. I needed more.
That is the answerto everything in the mind of a Hacker, the NEED to know.I decided to try something small.That night, my friend, (who I will call Dr.Antristo) and I,called up another Pirate BBS and Downloaded the number of arather prominent business, (at the time) and decided to call.Our biggest fear was being traced, so we got togther and builtwhat is nowadays almost routine, (from what I hear) a BOX.I made the call and found myself looking into a Menu System,that asked for a NAME, and Security ID. I had no idea aboutany security ID, or anyone who worked there, so I decided toHang up and try in a day or 2, AFTER I did some 'Checking Up'on their Company.Wedensday came and went, I checked into the Directory, andlooked for a name, someone in the Company. Personal Passwordswere not being used at this company, (and they STILL arn't)so figuring that out was not important, but finding out theMAIN USER SYSTEM PASSWORD was. After finding outabout a fellow who worked their, (Name Withheld), I calledagain. This time the Menu popped up again, and I typed his nameagain it asked me for a System Password. I knew the VoiceNumber to the Company, so I dialed it on my regular phone lineand got some reception lady, you know the type, not toobright, and just a tad naieve.
I told her I was in theData Processing Department and was new, and had forgottenthe System Password. It took her all of about 10 secondsto tell it to me. She didn't even bother for proof. Sowith that in my head I went ahead and typed it: X77-SYS1a.I was in.My Buddy watched, as I began to move through the menus, I gotto check out the General Bulletin Listing, several up-and-coming projects, (heh heh 486?) and even got to see who waslate to work this morning. I wanted to get some specs on thenew things they had instore for the Commercial Market, butI was unsure where to Download them to.
I was fearful of doingthat to my own house, so I figured I would find another place.After rummaging throught the place for about 15 minutes, Ileft. Personally, I was estatic. I had done it. I hadgone into a rather large business and gotten to look throughtheir system. But I needed proof, or so I thought.
I wantedto show the Hackers of America, I was as good as them. Iwanted what we all wanted. To be noticed and respected bythe people who I would call my peers.Now I will admit that there were MANY who were far better thanme. There were guys who didn't pay a penny for any phonecalls that they made. Ma Bell was sure pissed!
There wereothers who were what I and others referred to as ProfessionalPirates. These were the guys who not only wrote their ownsoftware, but Cracked anything they came across, knew wereto get anything, and Just seemed to be great at anything theywanted to be. These were the guys everyone tried to be like,they were the Football stars, Homecoming Kings, and all-americanheroes of the 'Net.To us they were as close to god as the pope.Turns out that they were no older than most, but they weresmarter, or had a head start. These guys were, and many of themstill are, unstoppable.I got talking to another Pirate later that evening, after I hadgone into the Company Mainframe, and told him of what I haddone. I thought at first he'd laugh at me, but instead, hepractically begged me for that Password. He said everyone inthis system at that moment would give me any Wares, (Warez foryou newer Hackers & Pirates) I wanted. Within 2 minutes oftelling this guy, (Handle: Omega Man) the Multi-Node Chatwas filled with over 20 different Hackers, Pirates, andonlookers asking for the Password, offering me Wares, andother Numbers in exchange.
One guy, I will call Harlock,offered me something none of the others could. The abilityto USE At&t all I wanted for free. He said he would teach mehow to use their LOOP Numbers and not get caught, also teach meto call other places, drop to their dos shells, and make hiddendirectories where I could put my 'borrowed' Wares. All for aPassword.I accepted.Without hesitation, he gave me a number to his 'Wandering' BBS.I disconnected with this one, and logged onto his. It was along distance call in the 216 area code. I didn't want to staytoo long, otherwise my parents would get REAL mad.I arrived at the Logon screen to be greeted with an enormusANSI of a Kings Crown. Followed by a System Password.The SysOp of the Board typed it in for me, and took me directlyinto Chat.
He told me that AT&T has what are called LOOPnumbers, numbers that are out of circulation, but can stillbe used. Billing is not used, because the company writes itoff as an expense on their annual tax bracket as for PublicRelations, or Advertising. They don't check up on them,because with over 500 Million Nodes, and lines in this countrythey don't bother with the 'Lost' ones.
(Currently there arearound 75,000 LOOP Numbers in the 312/708 Area)He told me that in order to use one, you must find one, bywhat he called Garbage Screening. He told me that aroundwhere he lived they just chucked all the paper in the garbagebin and left it for the trash men on friday. (he thanked godthat Recycling hadn't REALLY started yet) He advised me to dothe same. Once I had the numbers, keep a blacklist of them,(of which only 1/4th still work to this day.)Then he explained how to do it. He said I was to dial thenumber, wait for 2 'Chimes' then hit the Shift and Ctrl buttons.With Modem, (I still don't know how, but it worked so I amtelling you) it would give me a Dial Tone, and Wala! I couldthen proceed to call anywhere in the world, under AT&T's Tab.Then he asked me for the Password which I happily gave him, (Imay be a white-collar crook, but I am an Honorable one.)After writing it down, (I guess) he told me I was welcome tolook around his system.
I thanked him for the Info, thenLogged offline. I was Info Hungery!I had written the Directions for the LOOP numbers down andwanted to see what I could do. I told Dr.Antristo to powerup the MouseMobile (His Jalopy) 'cause we were gonna goshopping this evening. 'Round midnight, Dr.Antristo and Igot to Oakbrook, a rather large Communications Hub for theGreater Chicagoland Area. AT&T had just thrown its garbageaway and there was no one around. I walked over to the bin,with Doc' in the Getaway Mouse, and looked for any kind ofsecurity measure. It had a padlock, that was no where to befound.
I pushed the door open and took a look. Bags ofpaper and more bags.
From what Harloack had told me, Ihad hit the jackpot. I climbed in, (You must understand, thatthis was the cleanest garbage I had ever seen) and began tolook for anything that had to do with numbers. I also grabbeda pair of hefty bags full of paper with what looked like numbersthen got to the car and we returned home.I dumped all the stuff onto the floor and began to rummagethrough it.
I found a lot of office memos to call someSteve guy, and letters of recommendation, as well as a fewResumes'. A list of numbers that were said tobe disconnected or transferred to station (52?) for standardprocedure. Another list detailing numbers offline or as itput it, 'Out Of Circulation'. At last, O.O.C.' S!I wanted to know, I had to know. I put one of them into myTelix Directory and ran it through.
After a few seconds ofprayer, I heard a high pitched noise, almost like a Modem,but it was off a few bars. Then I heard what I can onlydescribe as a 'Chime', then another.I hit the Shift and CtrlKeys, and what almost sounded like Line shifting, I got a dialtone!Success!Dr.Antristo and I ran about the room hollering and yelling ourthanks to the great Jolt god and we sat down at the computer andtyped in the name of a Long Distance BBS, we could never call.Again, Success. It didn't connect because it was busy, butit went back to Dial Tone again, and we tried another.The BBS was called Crystal Palace, and it was somewhere inCanada. We logged into it, ran through the usual newuser crapand spent an hour talking to the SysOp, who was watching us atthe time.
We decided not to try again, until the phone billcame for the month.1 Week later it arrived. I tore it apart to find all longdistance calls done.
Only one to my Aunt Kathy in Michigian!The rest were Local! I was so happy I didn't care if my fatherwas yelling at me about opening his mail. I called Dr.Antristoand told him the great news. With this, we could do some realneat things, like call all those other Hacker Boards we couldnever reach.We decieded to call the most intresting on your list, onecalled ToC: The Obsidian Crackhouse.
It was in Germany,a place where there seemed to be a ton of Elite Pirates.We dialed into the LOOP Number and then made the overseas callConnect 9600Bps!We tied into the BBS to find that we couldn't access, it wasa Private BBS. So we settled for something in our country,a place in the 404 Area Code. A BBS called The NutcrackerElite. We got in and 'Registered' No, we wern't Cops, No,Not Federal Agents, Etc. Then we looked around to see whatthis guy had. Files I had never seen before, stuff fromEngland, California, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Etc. Listsso long I couldn't believe what I was looking at.
I wantedto Download everything I saw, but I was still afraid of whatmight happen, trying to do that. So I figured I would giveol' Harlock a Call.I finally got ahold of him on a Friday night, around 1 in themorning, and asked him what to do. He told me what he did.He would use the LOOP Number, then call another Company, dropinto their DOS, create a hidden Dir, then call out again, underTHAT Companies Number. It boggled my mind, so I had himexplain it again. The LOOP Number worked for you in severalways.
If you use a LOOP Number to call out, if you call fromanother HUB, it would look like you were calling from that area.So anyone Tracing would track it to that location, and if theywere good, they would only get as far as the LOOP Numberorigin, in which case you use another number. He warned methat the BOX was the only thing keeping AT&T from running atrace from their 'Hidden' Line to my house. So I continued touse it.That night I called some bank in the 804 Area Code. Found theirGeneral Logon Password, (from a Hacker in Vermont, thanks HAL!)and proceeded to drop to DOS. I looked at their inferior setup,all memory and nothing to show for it. I created a Hidden DIR,then exited and called out from that location using one of theircompany lines to another BBS in the 213 Area Code, a BBS namedPsychotic Interlude.
I got online and D/L'ed as much as Icould. (A whopping 3 Files)After Disconnection, I did another D/L to my house through theLOOP Number.
The entire evening I was online atone place or another. I had gotten about 15 Meg worth of Waresfrom around the country.
This Bank had so much memory it neverwould have missed it. (BTW, I never Deleted any of it so if youwant it, you gotta go get it.;) )I was really beginning to enjoy this. The following evening,I went online at my usual Hacker hangout and chatted with afew guys, the topic of the day was someone in Georgia was sayingthat he could take down the entire Phone Grid in that state.And after doing what I did, I belived him.October 24th, 1988I went to Dr.Antristos house to pick up the software of whatwe hoped to be our new BBS. I wanted to be a SysOp. Toobad that he didn't have it.After discussing what we could do with our abilities, wewanted to see if we could get into a Large Corperation.Watch out world, we were arriving!That night, after slurping down a 24 pack of Jolt, welistened to some Black Sabbath, and Led Zepplin, (my favoritesong by them is Cashmir on Physical Grafitti Album) weentered the world of the Hacker.We went to our usual LOOP Number and then dialed into aCorperation in Chicago. (The name of which is withheld,but I'll give you a clue, its a Computer Company Named IBM)Well, we got to their commercial menu, where they tell youall about their products, (Yawn) and how they're the best.If they were smart they wouldn't have agreed to givingroyalties to the creator of their Logon Program for allIBM Compatibles, and Regulars.
(Incidently, the guy whowrote that is now worth 8+ Bil)Anyways, we managed to snoop into General Information, butDr.Antristo and I wanted more. We wanted much more.So I decided to try that Newbie Crap with the Receptionlady again. I figured that if it worked once, it would workagain.The lady, who turned out to be a male night security guard,scolded me for calling so late, and muttered something aboutyuppies and their late hour workings. He looked around on thedesk of wherever he was and gave me a Password to enter theIBM Mainframe, (I still laugh at this chucklehead they had hired)and in less than 20 Seconds I was looking at Commands for theOffice.
Turns out he gave me a Password that is not for Generaluse. I got an Office PW.I was looking at a menu that asked me if I wanted to shut off thelights! I gave out a manical laugh! I was god, I was immortal,I was.Hacking.
I decieded not to turn off the lights, butI wanted to look at future projects slated for the next year.After browsing around, I got bored and looked into the securitymatrix, and found a universal password and name collection. Iwas feeling a bit evil that evening so, I switched, added, removed,and changed some passwords.heh heh. Cruel to the people whothink they're tough shit!I left IBM with a big grin, and a lot of experience. Dr.Antristotold me that we ought to go after other things. I wantedto know so much about everything, so I had it in my head Iwas going to do just that.Only thing was, how to do it!Part II My Handle is The Cuisinart Blade.I am a Hacker.This is part 2 in a three part series about my adventures asa Hacker. The events in these Text files are very real.
Theyare written as they occured. All people in this have had theirHandles changed, (unless otherwise specified).-To continue where I left off.I sent Dr.Antristo home after our 'encounter' with IBM. I lovedthe fact I had entered one of the biggest Corps in the World!It was about 3:34 in the morning, I logged onto the Lunacy inthe Abyss BBS, and went into the chat with my peers.
After talkingto them at length about my 'Discoveries', I found them all askingme for the Passwords, and how I managed to get that far. I toldthem that only an EXPERIENCED Hacker could do such things.I willadmit, I was up on myself. (shame) These others, all 13 of them,were in Awe. For once I was in the lead, I was able to scoff atsome of the higher ups who had told me I would never achieve whatthey had. I may not have been as good as they were, but I wasup with them in the big leagues!Potempkin, Renwar, bermahn, The Drifter, Sewer Rat, and Thycho,a few names of those who were online at the time. They were allvery intrested in accquiring info+ on what I had gotten into. Iwanted to tell them, but I thought it best not to.
Not yet.After chatting for half the evening, I finally went to sleep,wondering what my next move should be.October 30th, 1988Dr.Antristo and I went Bin shopping again. We dug up a recordof Ex-employees scheduled to have their Passwords cleared from thesystem. Someone loved us, to give us this trash. We returned hometo find Passwords, Doodling, more Loop Numbers, and an old recordscollection of New In-Service Numbers. We wanted to know how AT&Tworked, so we were going to check it out. I first needed to talk tomy friend/contact in Ohio. I dialed up his number in the 216 Areaand waited to chat with him.
He wasn't online. I checkeda few of the other BBS's in the general area looking for people whocould tell me how one was able to crack into AT&T. No one seemed toknow.On the following evening we finally got our big break. AnotherHacker, told us in exchange for Loop Numbers he would give us aPassword in the AT&T System. He gave us the Passwordto a smaller area of AT&T and told us that it was pretty unguardedso we should have no problem finding what we wanted to look at. Iwas and very much still am an Astronomy Buff.
I wanted to find outhow many AT&T Satellites were up there. So Dr.Antristo & I weregoing to find out the following night.Happy Holloween.On November 1st, 1988 we Called AT&T. We were buzzed off of the24pack of Jolt we had imbibed. After connection to the Loop numberwe dialed into the Corperate office of AT&T and were actually givena command prompt, (after a COLORFUL Ascii Screen.Yeah.Right.)The AT&T Logo was proudly displayed onto our moniter, but we thought,with their appearant lack of security, that Pride was False.We typed in the Password and it told us that it required a name for'Security' reasons. We dug up a name and fed it into the Computer.After verification of that employee, (NEVER put your full name onstationairy!) it gave us access into the System. I thumbed throughsome small records and such. Nothing much to get in the way ofrecords, or options.
I decided to look into the system a bitfurther. After nosing through some Menus, I found a 'Doorway' tothe larger system. The way AT&T was, it was a bunch of smallercomputers all hooked into one another by a bigger system. I wasmerely in one of the smaller appendages. I wanted the big guy!I opened the door and was system transferred to a larger net, whereit showed scheduled Payrolls, Pink Slip notices, Active Staff Members, and a monstrofic listing of people who were behind on theirpayments. Or so I thought.
No where could I find anythingon AT&T Satellites, or the such. I couldn't fix any of the payrollsor even reprieve people from getting the ever-more-noticable PinkSlip. (I still think American Companies are penny pinchers forlooking elsewhere for their SLAVE LABOUR)I sat there looking through the People lists, looking for a higherup so I could 'Borrow' his name.heh heh.I couldn't locate the main file area for any of the larger ups',so I logged off for the evening. I would find out later. The Dochad an idea that would require skilful planning and cunning. Icounted myself in. So there we were at 3:35 the next day, standingon a corner, on a pay phone, talking to the operater.
We told thenice lady we were late for an appointment with Director of Operationsand that we needed to reschedule our time, and after several minutesof chatting with the nice lady, I told her I was putting his namedown in my appointment book, and I needed it spelled correctly, soShe and I went through the spelling of the Director of Ops.:)I laughed as we wrote it down, little would this girl know whatwere up to!After chatting for a few minutes, I disconnected and Dr.Antristoand I went home. We began to talk about how we were going to getin, as well as what we would do when we had access. He didn't knowand neither did I. I guessed we'd have'ta figure it out when wegot there.
School homework was completed on time, (I STILL thinkthat its a waste) and we both had dinner with our respective in-mates. (What would you call a family that no longer cared?)Evening rolled around, we were both a bit tired, so we were goingto make this quick.We dialed into the Loop Number and then intothe little number our Hacker buddy gave us. After we were in, Iopened the Doorway and entered the main area. After scanning theplace for new info, I used the fellows name and opened myself toa world of new possibilites. I found myself able to rearrange smalllists of people, reverse pink slips, etc. I was in!I checked out some of those pink slips and read up.
I was horrifiedto find that some of these people were being canned because theywere in their 40's?!? I looked for who was responsible for signingthese Slips, and to my utter amazement it was the guy who I wasimpersonating!
Well, I, being the better part of this guysconscience, decided to fix what I broke! I reversed several of thepink slips and gave one to this bastard!
(Someone out there owes methere job!:) )After dawdling with the Pink Slips, I went to check out otherareas of the company. I managed to worm my way into the Specialsections, like who could order what. Private lines for othercompanies, Tracing Codes, and Satellites. I couldn't access theSatellites, but I managed to print Screen the Private Phone Linesof other companies, (and I STILL have them) and I found a real cutedoorway.it was to emergency areas. Example, A master program forthe termination of the Chicagoland area. I liked that. I couldaxe Communtication on 3.2 million people in a mircosecond.
Hahaha!I didn't, of course. I went ahead and logged out.
I felt verygood about the things I had done. If there is a God, he must havebeen thinking about that moment. I know that most people out therewho are Hackers or want to Hack, I know it is hard to believe, butshould you ever be in the position I am, you'd understand why Idid what I did. I never asked for forgiveness, as a matter of fact,I don't want it.
I was aware of what I was doing, and I enjoyed it.Anyways.Dr.Antristo had told me that the Department of Defence wasoffering contracts to Fermi Labs, and to Argonne on the Star WarsSpace Project, and that we should look into it. I liked that idea,but the government? Geez.I thought about it for all of a month. In that time I hacked alarge number of places, Mircosoft, IBM (again), Sears, Texaco,Illinois Bell, Wisconsin Bell, Prudental, My High School, (Everyonehas done it, admit it), Martin Marrettia, and Jet Propultion Lab-rotories, (if you don't know what the last 2 are, STOP READING!)I had enough stuff that if I sold half of it, I could retire at theripe age of 16! But even thought our government holds out on us,and lies, steals, and keeps secrets, I still love it. This is theland of the free.NOT!!!December 3rd, 1988I was at home watching some christmas shopping commercials anddrinking a Jolt, when I recieved a phone call from my buddyDr.Antristo. He told me that Argonne had gotten the project andthat someone I knew was the project manager.
The Password wasAnti-RX.?!? I sighed and said what the hell, why not. Letssee what our wonderful government is up to now.After a little bit of looking into it, I found out that yes indeedsomeone I knew was into the project. I also found out that as of1988-89 Star Wars was not.35% complete, but a whopping 87%. Theonly thing left to 'Shunt' into orbit was a weapon called theWiggler beam.
A laser which concentrated high speed X-rays intoa focused stream, resulting in a laser so powerful it wouldlitterly slice incoming missiles in half. I didn't care what thething could do, this was good information. I liked it, so I gotonto Argonne National Labrotories Crey computer using a stolenpassword and copied the plans to an undisclosed location for laterretrival.Dr.Antristo told me to goto the Department of Energy, you know, thebigwigs with no dicks, who push everyone whom they consider beneiththem around to make their things for them. (Wussies) I went fromthe Crey to the main computer terminal of the D.O.E. And lookedaround for a bit.
I found something I know all you will just love,a small article of information indicating after shipping out 265'Pink Slips' that Article 130a, said that they (all the brass at theD.O.E. Were going to give themselves some raises) oh my, how cute.Well, after looking around in the D.O.E. Area, I quickly shut offthe computer and terminated the connection when I heard my all-powerful Father come down the stairs to talk to me. Whew!Another fine Text of the -=M.A.S.Q.U.E.R.A.D.E=.
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